Hearts stay on top of pile

22 August 2015 17:46

Hearts retained top spot in the Ladbrokes Premiership with a 3-0 triumph over Partick Thistle to continue their 100 per cent record.

Following a slow start from Robbie Neilson's side, the hosts went ahead through Osman Sow following a 29th-minute corner before Sam Nicholson added a second after Juanma Delgado's penalty was saved midway through the second half.

Juanma made up for his miss with a sublime finish three minutes later to put the contest beyond doubt.

Ronny Deila saw his selection gamble pay off as Celtic beat Dundee United 3-1 despite making nine changes.

Deila rested most of his team following Wednesday's 3-2 victory over Malmo, with the second leg of the Champions League play-off to come on Tuesday in Sweden.

Leigh Griffiths opened the scoring in the 17th minute at Tannadice and Celtic should have been out of sight before half-time.

An own goal from Mark Durnan a minute before the break appeared to have killed the game off but Chris Erskine pulled one back from the spot with the last kick of the half.

The second period was a tighter affair but Callum McGregor sealed three points with a deflected strike in the 74th minute.

Aberdeen preserved their 100 per cent record as Adam Rooney's double delivered a 2-0 home win over Dundee.

The Dons were always on top and a typical Rooney header midway through the second half and an injury-time penalty saw off Paul Hartley's side.

Kilmarnock suffered another Rugby Park horror show as they fell to their second 4-0 home defeat of the season.

Ross County emulated Dundee's opening-day win and did so within the first 45 minutes as Lee McCulloch's Kilmarnock debut turned sour.

Liam Boyce and Jonathan Franks struck within the first five minutes before further goals from Boyce and Andrew Davies in a first half which saw Killie lose both skipper Mark Connolly and coach McCulloch to injury.

Steven MacLean grabbed a double as St Johnstone got their first win of the campaign by beating Motherwell 2-1 at McDiarmid Park.

As in their previous four matches, St Johnstone conceded an early opener when Louis Moult grabbed his first goal for Motherwell by converting Lionel Ainsworth's low cross.

Moult saw another good chance saved and Motherwell looked comfortable but some slack defending from Josh Law allowed Graham Cummins to square for MacLean to stab home in 63 minutes.

And a similar build-up from the opposite side saw Michael O'Halloran cross for MacLean to force the winner home from close range in the 79th minute before Jake Taylor was sent off for the visitors after being booked for diving.

Carlton Morris netted his second goal in as many games for Hamilton as they followed up their thrashing of Dundee United with a 2-0 win at Invernss that leaves Caley Thistle without a win.

The on-loan Norwich striker ghosted past Ross Draper to give Accies a 17th-minute lead and Louis Longridge sealed the victory with a late counter-attack.

Source: PA